Worth: $16.00
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Cast:
Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne
Intro:
...a film about the conflict at the heart of American patriotism.
In 2003, Vietnam vets Sal (Bryan Cranston), ‘Doc’ (Steve Carrell) and Mueller (Laurence Fishburne) are reunited after decades of estrangement when ‘Doc’ appears, asking his old friends for help transporting his son’s body to Arlington Cemetery after he has been killed in Iraq. What follows is a funny and emotional road-trip as the three men put the world to rights, reconnect with one another, and come to terms with the actions of their past.
Richard Linklater is back and once again he is exploring the effects of time on the human condition. Whereas his previous film Everybody Wants Some!! dealt with young men in the dawn of their adulthood with everything ahead of them, Last Flag Flying looks at men in their twilight years, looking back at their lives with equal parts reverence and regret, essayed brilliantly by three of America’s greatest working character actors.
Billed as sequel to Hal Ashby’s 1973 film The Last Detail starring Jack Nicholson, Linklater and co-screenwriter Darryl Ponicsan (who also wrote both novels each film is based on), bring that film’s acerbic look at the military and Vietnam forward 30 years and bring it right up against America’s involvement in Iraq to throw a spotlight on how the damage of war on soldiers’ lives has a ripple effect across generations.
There is a fascinating focus in the story on the power of truths and un-truths to either bolster or edit our social narrative in order for our lives to have meaning. All three men know how it feels to go to war based on a lie and to be vilified for it. They all share a tragic event that occurred whilst they were in Vietnam that they are still trying to come to terms with. Alcoholic Sal’s attempts stop the cycle of lies in order to exorcise his guilt brings him in conflict with his fellow veterans, yet when confronted with the opportunity to set the record straight, Sal finds perhaps there is some credence in reinforcing the story we prefer to tell ourselves as a way to just keep on living.
There are a lot of heady themes that circles the characters’ journey throughout the film but they only add depth to this entertaining road movie. The heavy lifting is done by the three central actors who are, of course, more than up to the task. Fishburne is terrific as a former wild man turned man of God and Cranston is phenomenal as Sal, a man torn between his love of the military and his resentment of his actions while in service. But Steve Carrell is the quiet, grief-stricken centre of the film and he once again brings to the screen a profoundly sad and human portrayal of a man who has been dealt a terrible hand in life but still finds the strength to go on.
Director Sam Fuller always said “Love your country, despite the ulcers” and Last Flag Flying takes that as its central thesis. This is a film about the conflict at the heart of American patriotism. Linklater explores how each generation gets the war that will define it and each war has the aftermath that cannot be addressed in fear of the fragile narrative we use to justify it crumbling into dust. The film may feel a little laidback at times but the themes resonate strongly and the acting even more so. This may be a lesser entry in Linklater’s filmography but is still a wonderfully heart-felt and emotional film.
